Spanish P.M. says contracts with Mexican oil giant done

The contracts between the government of the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia and state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, for two flotels to be built at Galician shipyards "have been agreed to," Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Sunday.

Rajoy made the announcement during a rally attended by several hundred officials of his Popular Party, or PP, in the city of La Coruña.

The status of the contracts announced recently by regional government head Alberto Nuñez Feijoo between Pemex and the Galician government has become a recurring issue in the campaign for the Oct. 21 regional elections in Galicia.

The Spanish Socialist Workers Party, or PSOE, and the nationalist BNG party raised doubts on Saturday about the existence of the contracts even though Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto's transition team said the deal had its "blessing."

The contracts were signed by Pemex International's representative in Spain, Jose Manuel Carrera, the head of Spanish state holding company SEPI, Ramon Aguirre, and Barreras shipyard general manager and majority shareholder Jose Garcia Costa.

Rajoy said he was well aware of the deal because it was cut during his visit to Mexico in April, a trip that focused on economic matters.

Questions started being asked about the deal after a high-level Pemex executive raised doubts about the agreement that had been signed.

The Galician regional government released the text of a letter on Oct. 9 from Carrera, Pemex International's representative in Spain, assuring Nuñez Feijoo that "everything is working out as stipulated in the contract." EFE